The Vine: September 7, 2007

I have a question: last month I went to St. Lucia on my honeymoon. Had an amazing time. While there, I bought an ice-cream bar called a "Bounty." It was possibly the best thing I ate on the entire trip (the food at Sandals? Meh). As far as I remember, it was mango and passionfruit sorbets over coconut ice cream. I want MORE of these. Is it possible, with all the Caribbean immigrants in the NYC area, that someone imports these yummy treats? I work in Manhattan and have friends in Brooklyn and Queens, so any suggestions would be welcome.

Newlywed

Dear New,

If the readers don't come up with anything, I'll ask my friend San if she knows where to get it — but the readers will come up with something. They always do. And they'd better, because that sounds delicious.

28 Comments »

Bounty bars are a British thing–I never had the ice cream bars, but the chocolate bars are fab (like a Mounds bar, but better). Right as I was leaving England, they came out with tropical-flavoured ones.

I think they're made by the same company that makes Mars bars (Masterfoods UK?). I don't know where to get them Stateside, but if there's a shop that sells British goods (sometimes tea rooms or specialty stores will have UK brands), she might be able to get a lead on a US distributor. (Or have them shipped over, but the dry-ice and next-day-air would cost…)

Bounty bars are commonly available all over Europe as well. They are produced by the Mars company. Bounty ice cream bars are a foolproof method of establishing a truce after I had a fight with my girlfriend.

For as far as I know they are not available in the US. This is a very sad thing, if you're in the US. You might try contacting the Mars company. Maybe someone there knows if Bounty ice cream bars are available anywhere in new York.

Apparently it is a UK brand of sweet. So far all I can find is UK info. You are not alone in your love though. One review I read was "it was better than sex". I would try any kind of British foods store in the NYC area and see if they carry it. We have a British grocery right around the corner and I'm going to see if they carry it! If so, maybe a FedEx with some dry ice and we can make a deal! :)

Bored at work and don't have a complete answer, but I did some research and it may help others hook New up. Bounty is a product line of a UK company called Masterfoods. They make chocolate bars, ice cream bars, and ice creams, probably among other delicacies. The websites http://www.masterfoods.com and http://www.masterfoods-foodservice.com don't provide a ton of information, but it's fairly clear that the parent company is Mars, as in M&M. Bottom line: it's not of Caribbean origin, but British, so a specialty store that imports treats from the UK could be the ticket.

That's a Cadbury product, so retailers that carry British candy should have them. They're also available in Canada, if you have any friends north of the 49th who'd hook you up. But aren't Bounties basically the same as Mounds?

Don't know about New York (never having been there!) but Bounty bars are made by Mars and are available all over Europe (and I think Australia/New Zealand) so if there are any of those British-nostalgia-for-food shops you could try there? Or do some supermarkets sell massively overpriced imported food like they do here? ($12 for a small box of Hershey's cookies is a mark-up I assume!)

hee…. I've never had a Bounty bar, but all this talk of British food importers reminds me of a friend of mine. She spent a semester in London and came back enthusing about this AMAAAAZING candy bar they had there – the Toblerone. Which they have… here… also. hee. Like, at Target.

I think she's talking about the Bounty Ice Cream Bars, and not the Bounty chocolate bars. Both are a UK/European thing. I was unable to find much information on the Bounty Ice Cream bars. I'll come back if I find more.

I think she means a bounty ice cream bar, and not a bounty candy bar. The ice cream bar appears to be fairly new, and I've found a lot of rave reviews online for it, but not a lot of places that sell it. Her best bet would be to call local import shops in her area (especially UK imports) and ask them.

TheIndianFoodStore at Amazon.com carries the chocolate Bounty bars and they import a lot of food from England, so they may be able to order them for you. I've worked with them before and they've always been really helpful.

This is the Newlywed–I don't mean the chocolate Bounty candy bars. Trust me, I know waaaay too much about British candy bars, from the difference between UK Cadbury and the inferior US Cadbury and which Aero bar is the best. (And I work just down Hudson St from Myers of Keswick.) The Bounty candy bars and most of the Bounty ice cream bars in the UK are not the same thing, either. The British Bounty ice cream pops (or lollies, as they call them) have chocolate. The one I bought in the Caribbean didn't. The ones in the UK are, as far as I can tell, close to the Snickers ice cream pops you can get here in US supermarkets. I did find a couple of references to it online:http://www.ciao.co.uk/Bounty_Ice_Cream_Mango_and_Passion_Fruit__Review_5418369

so maybe it IS available in the UK, but I wonder if it's an import there as well.

Keight, your friend may not be as silly as you think. Even though it is the same brand, the chocolate used in Europe for Toblerone, M&Ms, and candy bars is much better than the quality of chocolate used in the same products here. Unbelievably better actually … even for M&Ms *sigh*.

Myers of Keswick don't sell the British ice cream versions — in fact, you're unlikely to find British ice cream products of any kind in this country (trust me, I've tried). It's a tricky thing to import, apparently, and a lot of the corner delis that sell British food buy it at a cash and carry in the UK and bring it in themselves — I would imagine that ice cream is unlikely to hold up well under such circumstances.

I don't have any leads on the ice cream bars, but I picked up a Bounty candy bar today at Stop and Shop. All the S+Ss I've seen have a shelf or two dedicated to British food, so it's possible that a Stop and Shop or Star Market somewhere has the ice cream bars too.

And this Bounty candy bar is glorious. Mounds are not even worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as Bounty.

>>"the chocolate used in Europe for Toblerone, M&Ms, and candy bars is much better than the quality of chocolate used in the same products here."

I've heard that, both here and elsewhere. Never tried it out for myself, but that isn't what my friend meant. She was like "I had this AMAAAAZING candy bar, it was called a "Toblerone", it was like triangle shaped…" Har. She'd seriously never seen one in the US.

New, have you tried calling the store or the resort directly? You might be able to trace back to their supplier, then call and promise vast sums if that supplier will ship you a large number of Bounty bars. They can ship steaks frozen, and strawberries refrigerated- for the right price, I'm sure they can ship you some ice cream bars. Just be prepared for the idea that the right price may be a high one. Good luck!

I found some the other day in Boston, answering my own lingering question as to whether they were available in the US at all. Shaws supermarket near the Prudential mall in their international section. I was excited to see them, but they were "sell by" May 07 and a little squashed, so I settled for the, I agree inferior, Almond Joy.

The mango and passion fruit Bounty bar is sold under the same brand as the Bounty chocolate (ice cream) bars. They are a product of the Mars company. I still think that a phone call to the Mars company would be your best bet. Or email to info AT mars DOT com

While it's not exactly what you're looking for… you might give a new product by Bryers a try… it's called Love Fruit. They are vanilla ice cream bars with a coating a fruit flavored stuff (like a creamsicle would have). I just read a review of them at http://www.iateapie.com and thought of this. The review was for the tropical flavor version and mentioned both mango and passionfruit.